Fiduciary management 'made simple' for pension funds

A new guide is being published today by the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) to explain fiduciary management to pension fund trustees and the issues they need to consider if they are thinking of going down this route.

Fiduciary management is an approach to pensions management that involves appointing a professional investment organisation to implement the strategy adopted by the trustees.

The guide is the latest addition to the NAPF’s popular made simple series. It highlights some of the issues that trustees need to think about when considering whether fiduciary management could help them run their scheme. It also offers guidance on what needs to be done if trustees decide to adopt this approach.

Joanne Segars, Chief Executive, NAPF, said:

“Fiduciary management is a hot topic and trustees need to consider carefully whether this is the right option for their needs. Ultimately, trustees are responsible for scheme decisions and cannot side-step their responsibilities. By offering key information clearly and succinctly, this guide aims to help trustees consider whether fiduciary management can help them run their scheme.”

Fiduciary Management made simple guide is written and sponsored by Russell Investments. It is being launched at the NAPF Investment Conference in Edinburgh today.

Shamindra Perera, Head of Pension Solutions Group from Russell Investments, said:

“Current decision-making structures of many pension schemes are struggling to keep pace with the increasingly complex investment strategy and implementation. A good fiduciary manager should have the necessary expertise, resource and time to help pension funds deal with this complexity at every stage of their investment process, from advice on strategy design, through making day-to-day decisions in real-time to efficient trading and execution.”

Research has recently shown that the use of fiduciary management has increased by 30% since 2010, with over 200 pension schemes in the UK using it.

The guide (hard copy) costs £18 for NAPF members and £35 for non-members. It can be ordered online at www.napf.co.uk

 

Notes to editors:

1. Other recent made simple guides include Custody made simple, Property Investments made simple, Exchange Traded Funds(ETFs) made simple and Securities Class Actions made simple.

2. Russell Investments (Russell) is a global asset manager and one of only a few firms that offer actively managed multi-asset portfolios and services that include advice, investments and implementation. Working with institutional investors, financial advisors and individuals, Russell’s core capabilities extend across capital markets insights, manager research, portfolio construction, portfolio implementation and indexes. Russell has about $163 billion in assets under management (as of 12/31/2012) and works with 2,400 institutional clients and more than 580 independent distribution partners globally. As a consultant to some of the largest pools of capital in the world, Russell has $2.4 trillion in assets under advisement (as of 12/31/11). It has four decades of experience researching and selecting investment managers and meets annually with more than 2,200 managers around the world. Russell traded more than $1.5 trillion in 2011 through its implementation services business. Russell calculates approximately 700,000 benchmarks daily covering 98% of the investable market globally, 83 countries and more than 10,000 securities.  Approximately $3.9 trillion in assets are benchmarked to the Russell Indexes. Russell is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, USA, Russell has offices in Amsterdam, Auckland, Beijing, Chicago, Dubai, Frankfurt, London, Melbourne, Milan, New York, Paris, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto. For more information about how Russell helps to improve financial security for people, visit www.russell.com or follow @Russell_News.

3. The NAPF is the leading voice of workplace pensions in the UK. We speak for 1,300 pension schemes with some 16 million members and assets of around £900 billion. NAPF members also include over 400 businesses providing essential services to the pensions sector.

Contacts:

Paul Platt, Head of Media and PR, NAPF, 020 7601 1717 or 07917 506 683, [email protected]

Christian Zarro, Press Officer, NAPF, 020 7601 1718 or 07825 171 446, [email protected]